Rawn Shah is one of IBM's leading experts on the use of social networks in business, and the author of the hugely influential book Social Networking for Business. Network asked Rawn shah to explain the impact social networks can have on a company's effectiveness and performance.
Do you think every company can take advantage of SOCIAL NETWORKING Rawn Shah: The social atmosphere is another daily way of communicating and functioning, just as the building of working relationships between employees is a key factor in building a safe, active workforce. But to really deliver business value to the organization, do not look at it in terms of just "building a community," but in terms of "gathering customer feedback through a community to improve a product line."
WHAT DOES A COMPANY NEED TO KNOW TO MODEL ITS SOCIAL NETWORK AND GET THE MOST FROM ITS USERS, CUSTOMERS `STAKEHOLDERS? R.S.:
Do you think every company can take advantage of SOCIAL NETWORKING Rawn Shah: The social atmosphere is another daily way of communicating and functioning, just as the building of working relationships between employees is a key factor in building a safe, active workforce. But to really deliver business value to the organization, do not look at it in terms of just "building a community," but in terms of "gathering customer feedback through a community to improve a product line."
WHAT DOES A COMPANY NEED TO KNOW TO MODEL ITS SOCIAL NETWORK AND GET THE MOST FROM ITS USERS, CUSTOMERS `STAKEHOLDERS? R.S.:
Most of the success of social networking comes from the history of experience and relationship-ships that each participant brings. You need to help 2"QUARTER 2011 employees look at their relationships and knowledge as personal assets of value that they can apply to improving how they work with others. People need to understand that they have these relationship and trust assets that are usually unique to them. The real value emerges when these assets are put into play to support the company's goals. In other words, you need to encourage people to share and contribute.
COULD YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF A POSITIVE INITIATIVE IN INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES?
R.S. Fareed Mohammad, Vice President of Technology and Architecture at BASF, recently gave a fascinating example of social business in their agricultural sector. A customer in China asked their salesperson about a fungal infection. The salesperson took photos of the infection and sent it to their online community of researchers. One researcher, in Brazil, already had a solution for it. The product came from India, so they needed a way to get it from India to China. The salesperson looked up their social network a second time to find a logistics expert. In the end the salesperson called a conference with the researcher, the logistics expert and the customer to figure out how they could cost-effectively deliver the right product to the right location in China. Most of the interactions here wouldn't have been possible without the discoverability that emerges out of social networks. This result only happens once you have a mature and active online network, as well as well-defined profiles that employees can use to locate one another. At minimum, it is a nice capability for employees to engage each other. And as it matures, the social net-work provides the raw business infrastructure that can deliver new solutions to customers as they need it.
